With the arrival of the monsoons, hot and spicy snacks are the perfect companion for the rain and showers. We had a small get together at home and keeping in mind bangalore weather, I wanted to serve something hot and spicy as a starter. As my niece would say ” kuch chatpata and karara”. Thanks to my sister we thought of doing a Cottage cheese starter.
This recipe is quick and easy. The novelty is the coating of papad. The marination of Paneer (Cottage Cheese) can be varied like :
- A plain Salt and Pepper marination with lemon – Sprinkle salt & pepper as per your taste and squeeze half a lemon and keep paneer aside for 15- 20 minutes. You can also add Chaat masala.
- Achaari Paneer marination – You have an option to make the spice mixture at home or if you have punjabi mango pickle at home, you can take the spice mixture from the pickle
Rolling paneer in papad and frying it makes is crisp and spicy while leaving the inner still soft and juicy.
Paneer or cottage cheese should be soft. Paneer can be either made at home or bought from the store. I have been buying Milky Mist Paneer for a long time now and very happy with the product. Before marinating the Paneer (Cottage cheese) wash it and pat it dry. Cut a small piece and taste it to ensure that the paneer is not sour. Over the years I have learnt a secret trick of picking up the most recently packaged paneer from the shelf – Pick up the pack from the back of the rack and not front. Stores use first in first out for their inventory.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Passive Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings |
number
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- 6 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons Fenugreek seed
- 2 teaspoons Turmeric Powder
- 4 teaspoons Chilly Red Powder
- 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons Seeds Nigella
- 3 teaspoons Salt
Ingredients
Achaar Masala
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- Pulse the spices in the mixer-grinder to get a coarse mix for the pickle. Use 1 tablespoon of this mix for marinating the paneer.
- Wash and pat dry the Paneer. Cut the Paneer into 1/2" thick and 2" long cuboid. 500 gram paneer will yield approx 24 pieces
- Marinate paneer with a tablespoon of pickle mix, juice of half a lemon, salt if required. Add salt only if required, as pickle mix may already have salt. If you are using pickle spices from the pickle at home , take out the spices settled at the bottom of bottle, drain out oil as much as possible. Keep the paneer marinated for an hour.
- In the mean time spread the papad on a news paper and keep them under a fan for 45 minutes to an hour, or till the papad is dry.
- Pulse the papad in a mixer-grinder and make a coarse powder.
- Heat the oil for frying.
- Make a thick paste of cornflour and water and add a pinch of salt.
- Dip the marinated Paneer in cornflour paste and roll it in the papad powder
- Put 5-6 pieces for frying at a time. Fry till golden brown.
- Serve with mint chutney
I would love to hear from you on how the recipe turned out for you, please leave a comment and rate it.
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